Philipsburg Town council meeting April 10th 2024 okay like to call this meeting to order under the open public meeting act Council vice president would you please read it this meeting is called pursuant to the provisions of the open public meetings law this meeting of April 10th 2024 was included in the list of meeting notices sent to newspapers of record and posted on the bolon board in the municipal building and has remained continuously posted as the required notice is under the statute in addition a copy of this notice has been available to the public and is on file in the office of the municipal clerk would everyone please rise Pledge of Allegiance right I pledge allegiance of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands one nation under God indivisible with liberty and justice for all Council sco would you do the invocation please Lord we are meeting today to conduct matters of business guide our hearts and our minds in the spirit of fairness right thought and speech impart your Supreme wisdom upon our activities so that our Affairs May reach a successful conclusion thank you for being our source of guidance today amen amen Susan roll call please councilman Clark here councilman Kennedy here Council here Council vice president Paul here council president Marino here for you young kids and your parents we're going to move this schedule for you okay at this moment we have proclamations for the filbur high school basketball 1,00 point scores and the pburg high school wrestling team congratulations it's a graduate of peber you make this town proud and even people that don't live in peber now that went to P guy a f ear year I know that some of them my family counseling scuro this is yours sure so uh we're going to do the girls basketball team first and uh Amanda rapel is first so if you can come up front um meet us up [Music] [Applause] front on behalf of our athletic department we just certainly want to thank Town Council May PIAA for extending this opportunity and I know that our coaches and all student athletes uh do everything they do for our school and to pee on their Crest in their town so it's a reciprocal relationship here so it's with honor Proclamation whereas the Philipsburg high school girls basketball team finished 141 and declared co-champions of the Skyland Conference raran Division which is the first time the lady liners have achieved the division title since 2013 2014 whereas Philipsburg high school girls basketball play Sophia Larsson Amanda repel made first team all conference and Jalen SoDo second Team all conference and Wanda Brown achieved honorable mention all conference now therefore it be resolved that on Wednesday April 10th 2024 the governing body of the town of Philipsburg recognizes the Philipsburg high school girls basketball team for their dedication hard work and Leadership congratulations to the team [Music] Conn it is my honor to present this uh whereas phur high school girls basketball senior Amanda rapel has achieved the distinct honor of 1,000 career points as of Saturday February 10th 2024 versus beler high school and whereas Amanda Rael has also distinguished herself as only one of three thousand Point scorers in philis brg high school girls basketball history as first team Skyland conference Ron division all tournament team East rotary holiday classic as well as being a four-year Varsity starter and whereas Amanda repel ended her high school basketball career currently placing third among alltime high school high scorers with a current career total of 1,073 points in 85 games now therefore be it resolved that on Wednesday April 10th 2024 the governing body of the town of Hillsburg recognizes Amanda Rael for her dedication hard work leadership and contribution to the high school girls basketball team [Applause] congratulations at this time can uh coach coaches for The Boys team and the players come up at this time whereas billsburg High School boys basketball team broke a longstanding School record held since 1942 for the most wins in season and most consecutive wins in a season by finishing 24 and3 Under head coach Todd sigaus and where whereas the Philipsburg High School boys basketball team finished a 2023 24 season as Conference champions of the skyline Conference rarin Division for the first time since 2006 as well as winning the Eastern rotary holiday classic and whereas senior Andrew Martin and Junior Matthew scuro Jr both distinguish themselves with the most points scored in a game at the new gymnasium to date with 37 and most consecutive foul shots with 32 resp now therefore if you resolve that on Wednesday April 10th of 2024 the governing body of the Philipsburg Town Council recognized as the Philipsburg High School boys basketball team for their dedication hard work and Leadership [Applause] congratulations stand school basketball Andrew Martin achieved the distinct honor of a, career points as of Saturday February 3rd 2024 versus Bon Hills Regional High School and whereas Andrew Martin has also distinguished himself as VP of the EAS rotary holiday classic and first team Skyland conference re individuals and where as Andrew Martin a two-year team captain ended his high school career finishing 10th among alltime High School scorers at the school with a career total of 1,44 points in 79 games now therefore be it resolved that on Wednesday April 10th 202 for the governing body of filbur town of filbur recognizing Andrew Martin for his dedication hard work leadership and contribution to the fburg high school boys basketball [Applause] team so the next Proclamation is for uh uh Matthew Scerbo Jr who could not be here tonight because he has AA practice so um he's still working hard at uh at his track so whereas Philipsburg High School boys basketball Jr Matthew sto Jr has achieved the distinct honor of a th career points as of Thursday February 8th 201 24 vers brownbrook high school and whereas Matthew scuro Jr also distinguished himself as all tournament team of the East rotary holiday classic and as all tournament team for the Warren hunin Sussex Tri County tournament and first team Skyland conference rared in division and whereas Matthew scbo Jr continues his high school basketball career currently placing fifth among alltime High scorers with a current career total of 1,144 points in 72 games now therefore be it resolved that on Wednesday April 10th 2024 the governing body of Philip the town of Philipsburg recognizes Matthew scuro Jr for his dedication hard work leadership and contribution to the felsburg high school basketball team thank you now we're going to wrest pburg high school wrestling under first year at coach who knows this GR well coach Tim longaker whereas the phsb high school boys wrestling team was undefeated in the regular season beating Bridgewater rariden 57 to13 in the njsi group five north 2 championship match achieving their 40 first sectional title in school history and whereas the phsb high school boys wrestling team defeated its first four opponents in the State team championship tournament by a combined score of 273 to 22 and whereas the fburg high school boys wrestling team Advanced 13 of 14 wrestlers from districts to the region tournament under first year coach Tim Longacre and sent seven to the state championships in Atlantic City freshman Owen Gars 2515 record at 120 pounds sophomore Gavin Peta 29- 12 record at32 Junior LC Getta 35 and5 at 144 Junior Gavin Hawk 383 at 150 lb senior leam Packer 376 at 175 pounds senior Nate Smith 2916 at 215 pounds and Senior John Wargo 35 and six at 285 PBS now therefore it be resolved that on Wednesday April 10th 2024 the governing body of Philipsburg recognizes the Philipsburg High School boys wrestling team for their dedication hard work and Leadership [Applause] congratul okay since I'm the big wrestling fan on Council uh they they want to be to read these proclamations and recognize three of the wrestlers off of this team um I do want to commend uh Kyle Fleming and and wrestlers on uh one memory he stick with me for a long time and that's the Easter match this year um anytime you beat the red Rovers that's a very good day and Kyle and philb staff made it extra special with an elevated mat like it was a college match and a light show and everything and I think it uh caused to uh you know take a step back and you know they pulled it out with a a criteria win and I think they'll remember it for a long time I know I will okay let's get the business here Proclamation whereas filbur High School boys wrestling junor luk Getta has achieved the distinct honor of 100 career wins and whereas Luke Getta achieved the 100th win at bwalk Hall in Atlantic City in 144 lb weight class with the career record to date of 100 wins 22 losses placing six as a sophomore in the New Jersey State Wrestling Championships and also placing fourth in the Fargo freestyle championship for 2023 now therefore be it resolved that on Wednesday April 10 2024 the governing body of the town of felsburg recognizes Luke galletta for his dedication hard work leadership and contribution to the felsburg high school boys wrestling team [Applause] 62 63 Proclamation whereas filbur High School boys wrestling Jor Gavin Hawk has achieved the distinct honor of 100 career wins and whereas Gavin Hawk finished second place in the New Jersey state wrestling championship in 150 lb weight class with a career record to date of 108 wins 18 losses also distinguishing himself academically with a perfect score on the math portion of the SAT now therefore be it resolved that on Wednesday April 10 2024 the governing body of the town of Philipsburg recognizes Gavin Hawk for his dedication hard work leadership and contribution to the Philipsburg high high school wrestling team Proclamation whereas Goldburg High School boys senior boys wrestling senior John Wargo has achieved the distinct honor of 100 career wins and whereas John Wargo finished fifth place in the New Jersey state wrestling championship with a career record of 100 wins 18 losses also finishing seventh place in the state as a junior now therefore be it resolved that on Wednesday April 10th 2024 the governing body of the town of filbur recognizes John Wargo for his dedication hard work leadership and contribution to the felsburg high school boys wrestling team I just said P do you remember the first time bber be spinning wrestling bad Turner second year than thank you everyone for coming out thank you thank you for coming [Music] good we give a minute forone to clear out he now we resume the meeting I thought maybe the ex would like to St see it's to do all right okay we left off at the bills list the regular Bill L as of April 10th 20124 is 1,800 55924 the prepaid Bill list is $1,733 30 for a grand total of 1, 82,2 n254 need a motion so second any questions on the bills call please councilman Clark yes councilman Kennedy yes Council yes counc vice president yes council president Marino yes I we're going to do the minutes then we're going to go into session for about it should only be well I always underestimate but we'll say 10 minutes okay okay the minutes of March 13 2024 there budget meeting minutes March 13th 2024 regular meeting minutes March 27th 2024 regular meeting minutes and March 27 2024 executive session minutes m a motion so move second any questions on the minutes hearing none V call please councilman Clark abstained from March 27th regular meeting and executive session March 27th but yes the other two councilman Kennedy yes councilman scuro yes Council vice president paace yes council president Marina yes at this time we need a motion to go into executive session it's for the purposes of considering contractual matters ring between the town of fburg and 540 Marshall LLC no action will be taken when we resume and we should be in there for no more than 10 minutes as I so move second call please councilman Court yes councilman Kennedy yes Council sco yes Council vice president yes council president Marino [Music] yes counc yes Council Kennedy yes coun yesc Maro yes all right we're in executive session for project we're in executive session for approximately 7 Minutes during time we discussed one matter regarding uh 54 Marshall LLC contractual negotiation through the town no action was Tak ex session thank you sir okay we have everything caught up now let's go mayor report uh yeah um I haven't given too many so far this year I figured I would say this the one we actually have real updates and not Pi up council's time so we thought we would give a first 100 days of some things that we've accomplished and faced uh snow earthquakes eclipses and record rains uh aside um one of the first things we were able to do was hire uh the first dedicated and credential HR director in the history of the town of felsburg rather than scattering the HR responsibilities among uh various departments the town of FBG now has one individual who will pull those back into to their own Department to be able to deal with those um adequately uh so far they've created a new and fully compant employee application it's updated uh um for modern standards created updated policies but not living to discipline donated leave uh implementation of exit interviews nearly finished with all of uh the Civil Ser Service datab uh database updates uh eliminating years of backlog transaction people who were still on the books and no longer with the town um updated uh filbur person action forms completed comprehensive NJ Civil Service uh commission training with the focus on more advanced levels of civil service in order to ensure compliance with all Civil Service processes and practices adapting the Statewide joint Insurance Fund model of personnel manual for the eventual adoption of um bwn Council we've also begun the implementation of a new Voiceover IP phone system system which will seamlessly link all departments in all locations replacing the current Antiquated and frequently malfunctioning copper lines as some of you may have experience trying to call into our building um features of the new system will include an e easy to use auto attendant which will assist callers in routing their call to the correct departments voicemail to email so we can get those voicemails um even if we're in meetings and things like that if something uh urgent comes through um this will this should increase efficiency and ensure continuity of operations uh we've completed the aestus and remold Remediation of former Municipal Building located at 765 coreless which represents the first significant a action taken regarding the status of the building since the fall of 2017 spanning two maral administrations this represents only the first step in a long process process but Extreme extremely significant one we've implemented a comprehensive reorganization of Department of Public Works and Department of recreation ensuring that both departments are fully engaged in Community Development and maintenance of our public facilities especially our Parks implemented a shared services with the pollution control financing authority of Warren County for the first time in recent memory keeping type 10 waste disposal in Warren County um supporting our County landfill significantly reducing the expenses of Crossing into Pennsylvania and ensuring stable rates for the next three years in a ever Rising um Market it should also cut down on the Dy time as well uh massive investment into it infrastructure and cyber security in order to increase efficiency of operations as well as to ensure fully compliance with State as well as joint Insurance Fund mandates which Safeguard public funds and residents private information increased Staffing levels in the inspections department and implemented digitization of Records resulting in increased efficiency with a strong focus on future customer service begun implementation of a SMS messaging platform which will allow for timely notification of R uh residents of emergency special events holidays schedule changes and other important items of note negotiated a 30-year pilot ensuring the success of the Redevelopment of 75 South Main Street which will serve as a major driver of the downtown revitalization implemented a fully compliant lead inspection program pursu to a nearly two-year-old State mandate begun implementation of a relationship with gov pilot that's a company which will bring many Municipal transactions and processes fully online as well as eliminate paper forms and allow for the acceptance of electronic payments resulting in a massive increase in efficiency in Service delivery for residents we've also um this room will be an example of U LED upgrades we're doing with uh some of our buildings the library is currently undergoing that um renovation that should cut down on cost uh for buildings that are open 7 days a week and um you know she got down on uh it should improve the lighting cut down on the elector bills we're looking at any way to become efficient um long term and uh you know improve the quality of our building and that's what we have for the first couple days and uh I thank you all for listening thank you mayor before we open it up for public discussion on agenda items we just had a walk-in resolution so I want to read it Okay resolution 2024 -76 resolution authorizing the mayor and business administrator to submit to the New Jersey Department of Community Affairs Recreation Grant whereas the town of filbur desires to apply for and obtain a grant from the New Jersey Department of Community Affairs for approximately $100,000 to carry out a project to retain lsrp for an investigation of the Dela River Park lville estimated cost $100,000 be it therefore resolve one that the town of filisur does hereby authorizes the application for such a grant and two recognizes and accepts that the partner may offer a lesser or greater amount therefore upon receive of the grant agreement from the New Jersey Department of Community Affairs do further authorized the execution of any such Grant agreement and also upon receed of the fully executed agreement from the Department th further authorized the expenditure of funds pursuing to the terms of the agreement between the town of phsb and New Jersey Department of Community Affairs be a further res all that the persons whose names titles and signatures appear below are authorized to sign the application and that they are or their successors in set titles are authorized to sign the agreement and any other documents necessary in connection there with okay would be the mayor and mattle the business administrator and that certification Matt hle certified it uh Tim you're here Council has any question is why we have Tim expand on it yes so this is a grant from Department of Community Affairs there is a no match requirement for this grant um you'll be retaining a licensed site remediation professional to undertake an investigation of Del River Park for the purpos of trying to get that Park back online for community activities and sports um there's um history prior history of the lill being under large portions of that Park and um a need for professional to review it and provide recommendations to bring the park back online thank Tim any questions from Council Tim that's the park off of Howard Street at the old the old dump correct there um would this include I should have asked you earlier but would this include the the malfunctioning drain as well no okay this will help in that process because to do that project you have to cross through the park there's going to need to be an understanding of restrictions on the landfill where limits of it the cap requirements so we're getting like the guess information seeking element to that project done with this as well like for the in terms of the landfill impact project thank you okay so so that's read into the resolution so that the public knows public discussion on agenda items please probably hoping I'm going away but I'm not um question about resolution 20 2471 and this is a no a shap performant against Center but why are we paying $30,000 to run a summer playground program when we have been paying a reparation director $65,000 for the last year and we just got a $35,000 raise now we're going to another $30,000 and we're looking at an 11% tax increase and we're just going to keep losing money why is our Recreation Department not handling this I I personally feel uh the youth center expanded their um their coverage to expand the majority of the summer um we we would have to hire more people to cover that um that would increase the salaries that people have already questioned to cover those various Parks they I think they added the Housing Authority which isn't us which is an additional Park they're also adding another Park and extending it by a month and a half this year so this money was included last year uh in the budget last year so we kept it the same and we don't have to hire additional people to run it they're taking care for that money the people that they already have on staff to cover it so so I'm seeing it as less people that will have to have staff in another program I think maybe in the future we can revisit that after we get our budget on track um it's not something that's out of the question I mean it's going four parks and it's extended by two weeks last year it was five weeks this year was two there's an I believe there's an overlap of parks in the middle it it's going to go into August of this year and we couldn't do this cheaper than $30,000 with the with the STA I don't I don't think so but we didn't even look into that so we've had a year to do that and we haven't even looked into that I mean I'm just trying to understand because taxpayers are looking at signicant had year to do it I I haven't had a year to do that you haven't but we've had a recreation director since last April that should have seen how the program ran last year should have been ready to go for this year instead of us paying another 30 I don't know why has Boston designate him to look into that last year I'll look into it this year for sure and see if that is something we can do next year I I don't mind uh directing somebody to look at Cost analysis my S my predecessor I don't know why he didn't do that stuff why he I mean those people report to him if he didn't they're not going to overse a program or a project that he is comfortable with or he was comfortable with I can only assume and if he didn't designate them or direct them to look into it I I promise you I'll have them look into it this year last year because we didn't have a Rec director in place until APR we needed to go forward that's why we went to Youth Center and again this is not against Youth Center they do a great job that's not my issue my issue is we've had somebody in place for a year we could have been looking into this regardless of who the mayor was or who was on Council or anything else we're looking at significant increases you gave somebody a raise to do a job and now we're spending another $30,000 I know it's not that' be all end all but every $30,000 adds up 100% and here we are we have an opportunity if the youth center doesn't do it what Recreation do we have for the kids besides pool there's no recreation in this town agree that's why I think we should look into that this year but you've had an open space committee and a recreation committee that your past to Recreation directors current and past have never bothered to meet with when there was plenty of ideas flying around plenty of ideas that didn't cost money and nothing has happened so we've been paying a $65,000 salary for a year we've just increased that salary we're adding this on top of it and what is there to do yeah that's the kind of waste um I but we're letting it happen we're bleeding the money it's still happening no we will correct this it's a long time to correct um I can't have somebody who has uh I think revamped our snow plowing operation to become more efficient people seem more happy with that um I think our trash collection is being looked at um but I also I think you're correct I think we do need to look at those type of things um and make sure that we're getting the value my predecessor can I don't know why he didn't designate his employees the rep director um to do that work with all due respect I don't want to hear about what happened in the past your Rec director was a department head he still should have been looking into this whether he was getting ideas cring things out to bring that forward and say listen we paid $25,000 last year we can do direct not to but we don't know that that actually happened I I do okay sorry I appreciate it we will look into it I promise and I'd like to thank Kelly Co for doing stepping up and bailing us out in the my issue wasn't with the youth center at all what's that my issue was not with the youth center at all oh I'm just I'm just throwing as a as an extra thank you good evening glad to see you all this evening hope you're doing well the U I'm uh addressing the topic that the previous residents just addressed the uh one of the things to keep in mind and uh council president council president I'm going to have to rely on you to help me out here because my memory is not as good as it used to be and I'm older so my memory should be worse yeah but you have more experience so that as Ronald said so um in terms of the rec director um the current structure and Rec director position came into being after the first you Center became alienated and at one point didn't want to have any business with the town and withdrew their services from the town up until that point uh 2017 I think it was 2018 it was yeah 2018 the rec director was the head of the bir View Center is that not and prior to Kelly poti um what was that young lady's name who ran u b Center Don slier right back in the 1990s when I started coaching soccer before the uh Philipsburg Youth Soccer Organization came into it being Don sler ran ran the soccer program uh she saw that the fields got BL she did all of the stuff that a Rec director would do we didn't have this position that we have now of a Rec director that doesn't have a recreation program so U perhaps what we really need to do is create a liaison with the recreation organizations that run the recreation in the town and not have this recre Rec director that doesn't actually really have any function thank you anyone else I'm Joe Miner and I've been in felsburg 30 years 35 years something like that me I've been in felsburg a long time and uh the first center uh most recently maybe two or three years I went to one of their F fundraiser in the midst of all that stuff that was going on between the town they had at that fundraiser somebody who dropped a big number like $200,000 a huge number more than more than we sending it um and I don't know uh it may have been part of a gesture making a peacing gesture I don't know but um specifically I'm only they do real good stuff with the money and until that little bump in the road there was always a lot of cooperation between the first center and whatever Recreation fils B Supply and uh that the burden of that pool on Philipsburg is huge um it might come back anyhow um I'm sort of encouraging you know take a look make sure everything you police it uh but but the the Phil Center they do good work at a cheap price probably cheaper than we can do it because we got to BU you know C thank you J anyone else okay we're done with that move on to the resolution the consent agenda we need a motion including that resolution 2024 76 as part of as part of the consent agenda resolutions okay thank you sir okay Council we added that 2024 d76 resolution we need a motion so move second second any discussion root councilman Clark yes councilman Kennedy yes councilman scuro yes Council vice president paus yes council president Maria yes okay moving on Old business councilman Kennedy I don't have any councilman Clark no councilman scuro yeah um just wanted to address the rest of the council um maybe we can look into collectively what we want to name Needler Avenue um put our heads together maybe put some suggestions through email and come up with a new name um you also have to look into uh making sure the residents can change any paperwork or licensing that they need to get done uh before that obviously um so just wanted to put that out there hopefully we can work together on this and uh get it done the next couple months thank you you're welcome Council vice president nothing okay I don't have anything new business councilman Kennedy uh yeah I have something um for years the town's been looking at uh designating a bike route through town to get from one end of town to the other and it keeps circling back to including South Main Street and as an avid cyclist South Main Street is not safe at all I would I would want that being part of any any bike rout so uh I've contacted uh van CLE and then with Tim and uh some others there um to come up with a a designated bike route um we're in the preliminary stages but the initial idea is uh to have a designated bike route from beler road down Roseberry street across 22 to uh continue on Roseberry Street to Center Street Center Street to Green Street Green Street to Logan and then lock street again to the southern end of town um now with starting across from the high school any kids that are there for athletic events or whatever ride their bikes this would give them a safer bike rout in my mind to get from one end of town to the other there are also streets Heckman Center Street again Logan and and uh and Lock Street to get down to the downtown area um and also in my mind it would it would have another benefit with uh designating part of that those streaks as a bike route it would Force traffic to slow down CU right now Roseberry Street Green Street those are those are drag strips right now so uh we're in the initial idea you know kicking around the ideas hopefully we can present something to council before too long and uh okay am I right Tim I leave anything out everything's there okay all right that's it hey thank you Council councilman Clark uh yeah just a one bit of business um so I had numerous people reach out to me asking if it was possible uh for a pedestrian crosswalk um on South Main Street that turn right before you get to Joe's Steak Shop um they wanted to see if it was possible for us to put a pedestrian crosswalk at that turn uh because there's no it's dangerous turn and there's no pedestrian crosswalks in that near area um and I'm sure we all know that when uh Joe Stak um Stak shop also do does their vintage card night they need uh crossers to help St across that street so I don't know what the engineering would look like or we would be able to do it but would that be a possibility councilman Clark I can vividly remember this last year I asked the old mayor to do that with the Third Street motto in Bethlehem where they had it striped off it's blue different ones where the elderly are and we got nowhere with it that we can revisit it again I'd like to see that happen as you get up in age you cannot go for one walk to the other we're too old to run that's absolutely right but that was brought up again wasn't done as well as Heckman street over here the elderly have approached me with that as well I know you're young you got a real good memory so you are going to work on that thank you okay Matt make that a priority because you got to protect those elderly people we didn't do it last year but we're going to get it done any other councilman oh I'm good thank you okay thank you Council woman I'm talking I'm not talking to I talk to I I would um I would like council's assistance and something if I could request it um I've been talking to Senator steinhardt since we had that uh um I guess mysterious Bus drop off a few weeks ago um so I would like um maybe to look into an ordinance uh finding any commercial passenger drop off or commercial Bus drop off in unplanned areas um to be looked at if possible that way um you know if it's planned we have to be notified ahead of time so things don't come as a surprise and we just don't have um buses of any kind or um passenger vehicles of any kind just dropping people off uh in random areas in psur um tying up traffic maybe getting stuck at Corners whatever I think we should look into that M we should also look into while you're on the subject of buses are school buses they negotiate some of these curves whether it's the stoplight especially Hudson and South Main where people are coming they've never done this until the last few years never saw anybody make a right-and turn at Hudson and South L because it says no right turn but they're doing it so maybe you could go through the cheap pleas as we cannot and enforce downtown a lot more with the traffic and also the bus routes I know streets are all tied up we can't help that but these school bus drivers deserve all the credit in the world for what they go through no one gives them a break I've seen it personally as them all over town so maybe we can get more law enforcement on that get some nice tickets out there bring more Revenue in offic sure you hear me I'm only kidding you I'm only kidding you all right but uh there that is a big problem you know I got to fill more streets all chewed up right now but that's hectic with all the school buses so maybe we can get you know some more police presence in the area and we'll look into that appreciate it I think the state U may be looking into a model for uh for State areas and things like that as well good councilman SC well sometimes I got to forward it's okay uh yeah I just have few comments on Recreation I know there's some questions asked um so I think moving forward uh correct me if I'm wrong I think the idea with the shared service agreement with uh the youth center for the playground program would be to try to offer for every playground like we used to have growing up um eventually um we can get to there um obviously that's a big undertaking we would need some help with that um so I think we would um I know they've added one they've added the housing authority and I believe another one in town to yeah okay so uh I think we're moving in the right direction that and as far as the question is brought up about liaison to from Rec organizations uh that's part of the rec advisory um committee that was in the past three years ago we had that so hopefully the next month coming um when we have the new uh committee set up uh we can get that going again and um hope that can answer some of the questions that we had tonight um and we can get things going Recreations so I know there's going to be a lot of projects coming up um um and the recreation department is going to be pretty busy moving forward so I just wanted to throw that out there thank you I'm looking both ways okay moving on the Motions firefighter application I'm the chance okay special event birthday Farmers Market K off Festival April 21st 2024 special event dueling rivers and Whiskey Jam April 27th 202 for need a motion so move second roll call councilman Clark yes councilman Kennedy yes councilman Sero yes Council vice president yes council president Marino yes okay moving on to public petition so a couple meetings ago I had asked about the new positions that we have and if they were going to be posted and I was told they were so I overed job postings and the answer is I'm getting backer no responsive records no responsive documents exist so how are we filling positions without them being posted and applications being accepted and interviews being done Matt want answer please position specifically are you talking about I asked for the director of Municipal services and Community Development no responsive records is what I got back um position wasn't posted because it didn't need to be I asked for that on January 31st the answer I got back to my over request was no responsive records I asked for the deputy Municipal department head job posting no responsive document success these are all department heads and they appointment with Council advice so there's no no job postings no because I did ask for a job description for the deputy Municipal department head got the same job description I've got back for the director of Municipal services and when I responded back and asked if we were paying two people to do one job that was February 10th and I've still never got a response to that so I know you've talked about May about communication coming out of the municipal building but it's not happening I I believe it hasn't approved um we have a long way to go sure I mean I asked about communication between the town and Jersey civil service for some positions no responsive records so even civil service positions are we're just doing whatever we want so I mean we just posted for a labor position that's a civil service position any I mean there are I mean you is the HR Director or department head position because that one was posted yes fig the a civil service title that was a civil service title I there will be in this budget assuming it passes um three or four civil service positions which will be posted in accordance with Civil Service rules I think the labor position came down last week yes I mean I know you're saying like restructuring and there's been improvements in garbage and snow but mean those guys know how to do their job they dly do it so I mean yeah yeah I've spoken with them they feel that they've they've been able to improve back when a long time ago peber was taking welfare PE other districts for a fee they got paid for taking them and I was going in if they're still doing this with the welfare of people so so when when U Mount Laurel came down initially it was permissible for municipalities to um pay another municipality to satisfy that municipality's uh affordable housing need obligation and that is no longer the case so in the past yes that used to happen it does not happen any one case was Great Meadows and um keber had their money and it was in es so I just always wondered what happened to the money but I wanted to know if they were still doing that are they getting paid and where is the money now if they're doing it right so I wasn't aware of the great medals one Bernardsville uh would pay us um there's another there was another municipality that was paying kilburg to satisfy that municipality affordable housing need obligation but that is that's no longer the practice no long thank I'm Joe Miner and uh last week last meeting the first meeting of the council last month uh I understood the chief of police was going to make a monthly uh report to the council this is that this is the meeting he should be here if I understood correctly and he's not here uh I really was I mentioned to a lot of people how much I like the idea to have him make a monthly report again he was here last meeting he wasn't at the work session no he wasn't at the work it's the the first meeting of this is the first meeting of the previous month excuse me Joe you're talking about the chief of police because I didn't hear it was the chief of police chief of police will be here at the second Mee of the month the second the okay then all right and then what we're going to do to keep these cops on the the road because he's on the clock right they're going to just come in periodically make sure everything's under control because we're not going to keep them up the streets of people summer time's coming so they're going to be more valuable and and the people in filbur are good decent people so we don't have to worry about no fighting or anything like that so the chief or one of his captains will come in the second meeting of the month done done okay at least that's what he told me I'll call him up if he doesn't come Hey Jo we'll ask him to volunteer so we don't get caught on we got to say money right I I don't care about the story I thrilled that you're going to have him coming in once a month there'll be an officer here at the first regular meeting of the month they will not stay here they'll check everything make sure everything's going if we have a problem we will call them but I have confidence in the people beber that they act like adults and not like any booms so why keep them here when you should be on the street right what are you done this time I'm done good uh the other issue is also about oh the first time I think was four years ago but I'm sure it was three years ago at uh uh the Thursday night shindig when I asked uh somebody having to do with the shindig to please put out pedestrians have a right away sign I know we have them they show them up at Marshall Street all the time and uh okay and then last year and the year I know for the pr last two years I have gotten from the policeman on duty oh yeah we're going to do that and I have gotten it from uh the guy that speaks for Chappelle Park events who was the president of the uh Library Association I forget his name uh he promised me also that they put up those do not uh pedestrians have the right away sign and uh so anyhow for three years I've been because I play softball I've been reminding the PO the people that should be responsible for such things to put up those bloody signs and then tonight I hear we're having the same PL problems other places uh can you please ask now I know you don't have any authority over the the police any more than I do uh but and that pisses me off but that's another matter Joe we got woman here never never mind come on Joe you're in a you're a gentleman oh come on come on would you quit interrupting me please I just one person to another would you stop interrupting me yeah but you can't you can't uh say words like that Joe yeah I'll give you another minut anybody pissed off Joe if the kid come in here to okay I'll give you another okay I forget it I'm too upset okay but that that's not right that's not right that you interrupt me when you have not the authority doing it over and over again that should not okay I I don't even think of that as up scene well I do your name hi my name is mar last heri and I am here to talk about rent control my husband and I moved here two years ago and bought a two family home we are landlords who live in one unit and rent out the other when we bought the house it was vacant for a year and had no certificate of habitability we spent tens and tens of thousands of dollars repairing it and making it a place you would be proud to live in our rent is under market and we didn't increase it at all last year even though all of our expenses increased I know that based on the drafted ordinance we' be exempt from rent control as long as we live in the home we love it here we were planning to buy more properties here however now we will not if you enact rent control if property values start dropping which is common in rent controlled towns we will need to sell our home as well rent control is a short-term solution and it will not work here because the main problem with rental market is that there is lack of Supply there simply are not enough rentals on the market longterm rent control will result in even less housing Supply there is a reason rent control is abolished in 38 States and rarely used in most others Pennsylvania is one of these states where rent control is banned in the last meeting councilman Kennedy said he is afraid investors will not come to Philipsburg anymore and go elsewhere absolutely they will simply cross the border to Pennsylvania and invest in East it was said by this Council last meeting that one of the main problems is that there are absentee landlords or slum Lords and that many rental units are unregistered inspections are not being done and the landlords do not abide by the rules we have this is where you need to focus your attention first examine the town and fix non-compliance I agree that this is a huge issue rent control with more rules in bureaucracy will not change this and will not fix this if you cannot enforce the rules we have how can we trust you can fairly enforce a nuanced program like rent control where are the experts you said would talk to us I do not see any experts or economists who will stand up here and vouch for this idea looking at other towns does not equal success for our town and I would like you to reconsider this ordinance hey thank you man replied to that we in the process of engaging an expert to perform an analysis and that there will be a more robust conversation on this subject down the road if anyone wants to take in this they're very welcome and encouraged to speak at that meeting so when we have everything together we will make it public and everyone this time will have an opportunity to discuss thank you it would be great to see a timeline because at the beginning of March it was said that this would be months of conversation then an ordinance was drafted well we're not going to put the timeline cuz time we get our report we have public input I can't guarantee it could be a month could be two months I don't know but if I do have a timeline the public will know about it thank you and thank you very much will hi my name is Michael relli I live in town I've been here for three and a half years I'm a member of properties I'm also the associate director of media relations for SE all T bar with own practice I'm here to talk about my control as well I got I know not only am I here I really love it here both my grandbabies um my kids girlfriend's kids we have few houses and I think one of the things about rent control that I think people have sort of missed is that this doesn't just affect um investors and and ten it really affects homers as well you know last year approximately 30% of the housing stock in America was bought by investors and um with they're already mom and pop so if you take so if you're a homeowner and you're looking to sell your home you just took 30% of the market out because investors are not coming here I mean I like it here I really do but if I miss file some papers and I'm looking at jail what are we do with that and I'll get to the 3% as well but once you take investors out of the mark that's 30% of your market now maybe you don't even want to sell well what happens when the market tanks and you go to refinance the value is not going to be there it Brent control will suck the equity out of this town the way it is done throughout America where it's been implemented uh and because it's so strict what I saw at the draft it's it's actually uh you even got vacancy even when liutenant you can't re we can't raise that's that's how are you supposed to how are you supposed to recoup that investment I try to make my properties really free um anyways so that's 30% of the market gone um and I think when you look this is actually a perfect perfect year to look at how the math doesn't work if you're invested right so normally right your insurance your I've been I've been landord for 25 years everything goes up the insurance goes up the water the sewer everything goes up if you're renting a space for $1,000 a month right let's just go with even numbers 3% that gets you $30 extra a month $30 extra a year that's $360 you can't do any that's one trip to the Home Depot I just spent that on a on a on um shower faucets and the tow things so you're not going to be able to pay for that and then 11% rise in taxes I actually I'm unlike some people I actually think that we well we have some of the lowest taxes in north of New Jersey north of Trenton um the only thing lower is uh monu Windfield Park which only has 1500 people and um the other one doesn't matter T bro like people taxes are low but if you increase taxes by 11% and I'm only able to raise the rent 3% what what are we doing here how you know so I've been working six and a half days for a week for 30 years and I do that to make money in addition to my job this will no longer be this will no longer be a money-making operation so why am I doing it um the other thing I really want to say is that you know we talk about any we and I I'll wait for experts but you know any urban planner will tell you that economic diversity is a really important thing in a town really important thing you don't want to just uh pile up poor folks like um like the housing projects of the 70s the last good number I I got we have 237 of our affordable housing requirment in fact a recent analysis finish your comment the three minutes is up all right well thank you really okay I guess it's not popular cu the only thing I was going to tell you is that there are no economists no Eon there 92% of economists say that rank control is a really bad idea and it hurts the people with intense to help 92% you can't get aist to agree on almost anything but they agree on now it actually hurts the people that looks to help so I guess that's my minutes that's a little tough I will tell you that the uh affordable housing as you affordable housing laws in New Jersey just got mud strictor there's a recent analysis featured in nj.com there are some towns that need a thousand more units there are towns in Warren County that need hundreds of more units not bburg we have all we need don't need a single one more thank you sir on PA us on tour rent control I live with rent control and if you don't have it for places like Norton's apartments and the apartments behind um McDonald's the new owners for the them Apartments will be running the people out of town so you have to have rank control at least for complexes like that because the people won't be able to afford you you don't know what these new owners are like I do know you need rent control for complexes anyone else hello uh David morette 5 Fairview Heights pH New Jersey and um so one of the things I would like to do and I know uh council president Marino um I see you in bisberg and I know you are involved working with a diverse population and we need to recognize um our residents um and so I would like to wish uh a mbar to all of our Muslim friends and residents in the town of bisberg today is the last day of Eid Al fitter which marks the end of Ramadan Aid alfit is a festival that celebrates faith community and gratitude and I know you as Council wish the same for our Muslim residents thank you thank you DAV anyone else Dan voice London bridg is falling down I have to agree with the comment that was so eloquently made about the town bleeding money out which makes me bring up again the lawsuit against the the warehouse the town has paid now what 20 grand in legal fees to this is there anything the town can do to hold the people to Clow withous lawsuit responsible for those costs so I mean we've had this conversation before Mr Moret and it's not our practice to discuss litigation or litigation straty sorry it's a long my gles I could use them Mr voice uh litigation or litigation strategy that the town May undertake or is undertaking so I think it's something that needs to be looked at this has gone on too long and it's just taking much needed funds for something just for people's enjoyment whatever and then I've heard about the rent control which um I'm going to bring up when you need to discuss this I feel that councilman Clark needs to resend himself from any discussion as he stands a chance to benefit from not passing it he's a rener his he could get favorable um rent increases a lack thereof by his landlord um and he needs to be refused not just abstain there's a difference New Jersey ethics law looked it up here the potential conflict of interest requires refusal which extends Beyond merely abstaining from voting it means refraining from participation in discussion meetings and executive sessions related to the talking it actually means leaving the room to avoid influencing others decisions as a renary like I said it stands to benefit so he needs to recuse himself from any discussion and also also needs to prevent him from discussing anything on social media or publicly or privately and it's just for the benefit this is nothing personal it's just he's the only rener so he's the only I getting shot he's the only one that stands and he could could benefit I'm not saying he will I'm not saying he's doing anything illegally but there's just that potential thank you uh excuse me then we're going to have the attorney respond to that so I appreciate what you're saying but the mere fact that Council Clark is a renter is not a conflict of interest would preclude him in any way from having a conversation on or discussing or acting on rent Control New Jersey ethics law you I'm aware of the law okay and your argument if I'm correct is that not that he would benefit from rent control and keeping his rents low but that he would vote against rent control and then therefore I guess get a kick back from the landlord for voting against it yes yes that's right thank you anyone else under public petitions see let's go Council open time councilman Kennedy uh yeah a couple of things um coming up on uh Saturday April 20th uh is going to be Norwest caps Community Day of action uh this involves cleaning up our downtown area um I've been doing it the last few years um they ask that you register ahead of time if you can at eventbrite.com uh the reason they would like you to do this you can register uh in Chappelle Park also but uh they ask you to do it on eventbrite.com that way they can get an idea how many volunteers will be there to supply everybody with trash bags uh gloves all anything you would need the uh for people my age the uh long handled uh trash Rippers and um but like I said you can register the day of the event at 8:30 it will begin at 9: and usually it goes for a couple of hours and uh with the number of volunteers we had the last few years uh we covered a lot of ground in that time so a lot of people complain about the trash in town here's your chance to do something about it the other thing the next day April 21st there's going to be a combined Earth Day Festival and also the opening day of the outdoor Farmers Market um the Earth Day Festival uh vendors will be on S Grave Street the Farmers Market vendors will be in Chappelle park it will run from 10: to 3: and that will be the official kickoff at the farmers market outside for the rest of the summer through through the fall and uh from what I hear they have quite a few a few vendors lined up for both events so uh plan to attend thank you thank you councilman Clark uh yes just some updates uh so this April Warren the Warren Sussex County m CP will be having their fundraiser Gala um I encourage as many people as possible to register come out support um everyone that will be there uh they are giving away about $20,000 uh to a number of students who are going off to college so these are college scholarships so all proceeds um from ticket purchases go towards the next year's you know po of scholarships to help support high school kids going off to college uh so just want to let folks know that uh tickets are on sale and please support the Warren Su County daacp how they can uh councilman Kennedy already said it but the farmers market is coming up there's shifting from indoor to outdoor uh so April 21st so again come on out support the farmers market it has grown into quite the thing uh since it first started um and I think we can actually give Easton a run for its money uh pretty soon so please come out and support the vendors the number of vendors have grown exponentially and I think it's a great thing for the town and then finally uh Norwest cap is hosting a number of Resident meetings uh the first Tuesday of every month we've actually had a majority of town Representatives up here show up and come out uh to listen to Residents their concerns and what they would like to see uh done in the town so the we just had our La the last one for April not too long ago where we discussed the topic of Public Safety so the next one will be held from what I was told Tuesday May 7th uh they're always at 5:30 p.m. they're held at rockos on South Main Street so I always encourage residents to come out share your input because many people have many opinions on what is wrong in the town but this is an opportunity for us to find Solutions and have a pro prodct sorry productive and positive discussion to move forward so we can Implement them going forward in future planning and I'm so glad that Norwest cap and to an extent fburg Downtown Association is involved in this matter so if y'all can come out please do so thank yall thank you councilman councilman car out yeah just to piggyback off the Mr Clark's comments so meeting I attended the meeting he uh spoke of last night very good conversation with our our residents uh Public Safety was brought up uh possible Neighborhood Watch program which was brought up by a couple residents here before as well um you know we we get into this uh conversation about cameras versus uh more police officers it's been uh been talked about for over a year in our town um just want to share a personal uh story um unfortunately uh my tires were slashed outside of my house two weeks ago um broad daylight um they did catch the individuals on camera but um obviously a ski mask and a hood um you can't get an identification of who the people are where you know who they might be um so that's why I'm in favor of more police officers I know I believe we are um going to have more staff um I'm not against cameras but I'm just saying if we have more people out there on the beat walking uh we can combat these uh problems that are having with vandalism uh I know that people were talking about they're scared to walk on South Main Street by the dispensary uh and fear to be robbed down there which people were approached a couple times um I think that you know we're all elected here to you know have the safety of our residents first um and we need to look out everything uh like I said I I I think our police need a lot of support as well they're been in a building uh that's a back of a school it's not really sufficient of what we need here um to really combat the crime they need a stateof the art facility and we need to keep working towards finding that for them uh collectively here so U those are just my thoughts on that and I want to thank uh rest of council the mayor and uh Mr Hall for putting the proclamations together tonight I believe it was it served our youth well and our coaches and uh look forward to doing more of that in the future thank you you council president I don't have anything make do okay there's no executive session we need a motion to adjourn so move everyone in favor everyone have a safe trip home see something say something let's up